Alan’s talk began by explaining the history, background and current structure of Amazon. The founder – Jeff Bezos – despite starting by selling books from his garage, always saw the company as a technology supplier and not a bookseller. Alan then gave an overview of the type of Services (more than 1500 now) provided by Amazon and how they allow companies such as Netflix to operate from the cloud and dynamically utilise extra capacity when needed. The list of services now is vast and also includes a specialised game development engine, secure authentication servers and dedicated platforms for the Internet of Things.

Champlain Abroad Dublin students ready to visit the office of Amazon Web Services

One interesting fact was that the Amazon web selling sites are also hosted on AWS but treated as any other paying customer. Importantly there is an Amazon Educational Programme which provides free experimental use of AWS for student projects. He also described the Amazon approach to graduate recruitment and more generally the types of background research that applicants should do before attending any interview with any company. Amazon currently employs 1700 people in Dublin and Cork and has released plans to hire 500 more over the coming years. They are moving into a completely new HQ in the coming months and in fact might be expanding further.

Finally after discussions about the use of AWS for the hosting of a start-up and its evolution to a
multi-site cloud-based system the afternoon concluded with a question and answer session. It was
fantastic to be allocated so much time and it was much appreciated. All this and a free lunch too!
While he had to be circumspect, Alan forecast that there would be some very interesting
announcements from Amazon at their annual get-together coming up in Las Vegas at the end of
November, when AWS “take over” the town. You can read more here: https://reinvent.awsevents.com/

3 study abroad students from Champlain College’s Computer Networking and Cyber security program spent a full Tuesday in early March as volunteers at the Zero Day Conference held at the Dublin Convention Centre. The conference aimed at giving giving strategic guidance on the opportunities and challenges facing CIOs, CISOs and senior IT executives today. Zero Day featured keynote speakers and panels offering unique insights on cybersecurity, blockchain technology, IoT security, EU GDPR and cognitive computing. The Irish organisers from cyber security firm SmartTech were very happy with our students on the day.

From Left to Right, Parker Desborough, Emily Shelton and Christopher Pickett. Champlain Cyber Security students volunteering at the Zero Day Conference in Dublin, March 2017.

Please see below comments from the three students.

“The Zero Day Conference was a fantastic chance to see what well known computer security companies think the future will be like. The conference showed that increased automation does not have to be a bad thing for employees, a viewpoint sorely needed as artificial intelligence becomes more of a reality.” – Parker Desborough’18

“It was really rewarding to be a part of Dublin’s first security conference and experience the industry from a business perspective. These kinds of opportunities are invaluable to students for networking and I really appreciated getting to participate in this event!” – Emily Shelton’18

“Zero Day Con was a top-notch experience. The ‘who’s who’ of technology companies in Ireland were in attendance, and the organizers were very happy to welcome Champlain students as volunteers. A quote from one of the panelists has been in my head ever since: “It will cost you to implement good security practices, but it will eventually cost you more if you don’t.” – Christopher Picket’18

On November 16th the Global IT & Ethics class (CSI 320) class went to visit Amazon Web Services (AWS) on the canal at Grand Parade in Dublin. We were hosted by Matthew Pye, Operations Manager and two of his colleague engineers one specialising in security and the other in game development in the cloud. Matthew’s talk began by explaining the history, background and current structure of Amazon. The founder – Jeff Bezos -despite starting by selling books from his garage, always saw the company as a technology supplier and not a bookseller. Matt then gave an overview of the type of Services provided by Amazon and how they allow companies such as Netflix to operate from the cloud and dynamically utilise extra capacity when needed. The list of services now is vast and also includes a specialised game development engine, secure authentication servers and dedicated platforms for the Internet of Things.

They also provide free experimental use of AWS for student projects. He also described the Amazon approach to graduate recruitment and more generally the types of background research that applicants should do before attending any interview. Amazon currently employs 1700 people in Dublin and Cork and has released plans to hire 500 more over the coming years. Finally after discussions about ways to prevent Distributed Denial of Service attacks the afternoon concluded with a question and answer session. It was fantastic to be allocated so much time and it was much appreciated. All this and free pizza too! As an aside the meeting took place on the 7th floor of the old Nationwide Building Society offices which was the previous home of their CEO Michael Fingleton and now contains pool tables and fantastic views across the City – changing times indeed.

9 students of Champlain College‘s Computer & Digital Forensics and Computer Networking & Cyber security programs volunteered at the Cyber Threat Summit early in September. The conference was a sell out and was held in the Mansion House in the Dublin city centre. The organizers are now also offering an “Omnibus Virtual Event” where the broadcast will be free to attend. If you are interested, you can find more details on the Cyber Threat Summit’s website.

The Champlain students helped out with general tasks during the conference in exchange of sitting in on talks and presentations as well as joining networking events with conference attendees.

About

Champlain Abroad Dublin is an Irish study abroad campus of Champlain College of Burlington, Vermont, USA.
Each semester a group of American students come to Dublin to take US-accredited courses with an Irish flair and immerse themselves in Dublin and Ireland.This is a student, staff & faculty blog where we post about courses, field trips, cultural activities, life in Dublin and things relating to the experiences of our students studying abroad in Ireland.